Rikki Sitmore is not your average female. She has strange reactions to things people may consider normal. She only likes to eat peanut butter and broccoli and likes everything to be pristine and untouched. She might also be a sociopath because her parents, foster families, and fiancé’s houses all burned down and many of them died. But being a possible serial arsonist is not even the oddest thing about her. The winner is that she has the ability to control water (think water-bending in “Avatar: The Last Airbender” style). Rikki is therefore surprised she didn’t sense the giant tidal wave until it was literally crashing down upon her. The tidal wave doesn’t just bring water, however, but also the most dangerous looking and handsome man Rikki has ever seen. Against her better instincts, she decides to save him. During the rescue, she shares a moment with this dangerous man who is sure to shake her world.

Lev Prakenskii is a very dangerous, deadly, and handsome man. This is the one thing he knows as he finds himself slammed against the rocks after falling into the ocean. The next thing he knows, he is saved by a beautiful woman whom he can’t help thinking must be a mermaid. She pulls Lev out of the ocean and the dizziness and uncertainty causes him to react in a way that would have King Triton stabbing him with his triton. Rather than throwing him back into the ocean, the woman responds angrily to his actions. This rather sobers Lev up to the fact that Ariel did not save him, since she is yelling and not singing to him. Despite his dangerous behavior, the woman takes him home. Lev soon realizes he can’t remember anything except that he has killed a lot of people. The one thing he does know is that he wants to spend his life with this mermaid-like woman.

I’m the first to admit that I’m no literary expert, but my biggest problem with this book was what I found the writing to be poor. The author overuses adjectives and has the tendency to be repetitive. I did not need to be reminded on every page that Rikki is a strange woman. I also got the point after the first fifty times that Lev is a deadly and dangerous man who has killed a lot of people. I was tempted to start a drinking game every time I came across the words strange, deadly, dangerous, handsome, and a quite a few others. Needless to say, I would have been very drunk by the time I came to page two hundred, and the book is near five hundred pages long. Also, do we need a twenty page sex scene? A paragraph about walking into a grocery store? This book really could have benefitted from a strong editorial hand. The weak editing really ruined the story for me. I could not concentrate or care about the story because I kept trying to edit it in my mind.

Setting aside the editing issue, the plot was rather weak as well. I really felt no connection to either Lev or Rikki. None. I’ve never read a book where I’ve never felt even a small connection. Because I felt no connection to either of the characters, I could care less about what happened to them. There are exciting scenes here and there, but they are quickly overridden with the overuse of repeating themes and thoughts. I really thought when Lev’s past was revealed, the story would take an interesting turn. It didn’t. The major plot points are who is starting the fires and trying to kill Rikki and whether Lev can escape from his dangerous and deadly past. Both are resolved in the most lackluster way possible.

Oh yeah, Rikki and Lev got together at the end and I was relieved that the book was over. Those who don’t mind a lot of adjectives and repetitiveness will probably like this book better than I did. As it is, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. ~ Melissa